Former Mumbai-based journalist Ketan Tirodkar,who was today sent in judicial custody in the Sadiq Jamal encounter case of 2003,told a court he should not be lodged with incarcerated suspended IPS officer D G Vanzara and others as he apprehends threat to his life from them. Tirodkar,arrested by CBI on July 5,was sent to judicial custody till July 25. He will be lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail,where Vanzara and other policemen-accused in another encounter case are also kept. "Don't keep me with Vanzara and other Gujarat cops. I feel threatened by them as they are suspects in killing Sadiq," he appealed to the court. Tirodkar,who was in CBI custody till today,was produced before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and Special CBI Judge H S Khutwad. Since Special Investigating Officer and Deputy SP of CBI,S K Rathi didn't press for further remand of Tirodkar,the court sent him in jail under judicial custody. At that point Tirodkar expressed his apprehensions about Vanzara and nearly a dozen other policemen,who are lodged in Sabarmati Jail as undertrials in the case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter and murder of his wife Kausarbi,which is also being investigated by CBI. The court asked him to make submissions before Jail Superintendent,who in turn will take a decision according to the prison manual. When Tirodkar sought the court's permission to file his bail application,Judge asked him to move it before a competent court. "This Court is Magisterial Court and it doesn't have powers to hear bail application of an accused arrested on murder charge," Judge Khutwad noted.
